The Image staff muses on the culture of keeping up appearances

Kimora Lee Simmons steps into her new role at justfab.com

September 22, 2011 | 11:49
am

Her days designing the Baby Phat clothing line may be behind her, but Kimora Lee Simmons is attempting to bring her brand of “fabulosity” with her into her new role as president and creative director of the Manhattan Beach-based online accessories retailer Just Fabulous.

The members-only website, justfab.com, offers participants an accessory each month for $39.95. Items are filtered by the results of an online personality quiz and are curated for each customer by a team of style experts led by celebrity stylist Jessica Paster. Members can opt to skip months or order additional items.

The main attraction? The shoes, which range from classic, pointy knee-high boots to more outrageous platform stilettos. There are also handbags that seem to take design cues from current trends and a newly added jewelry line, debuting Oct. 1, which Simmons designed.

This move to an online retail space doesn’t seem to limit Simmons, who is quite savvy about social media. She is an investor in the website, and her Twitter following is hovering around the 800,000 mark. She looks at justfab.com as another way to reach the fan base she’s built during the Baby Phat years and from her reality show, “Life in the Fab Lane,” on the Style Network (where she is also style editor).

“I want to bring the fashion lifestyle aspect to everyone,” said Simmons who now lives in L.A fulltime after several years of a bicoastal commute. “I am a businesswoman, a serious fashion girl, a mother, a wife … twice. I’m on a journey with all these other women. We’re not teeny-boppers in the club anymore. This is the next element, and it’s more evolved.”

The site seems to have Simmons’ stamp of “Fab” living all over it. There are her “favorite picks” and several images of her wearing shoes that can be purchased on the site.

And the fabulosity may not stop with splashy graphics and images of the 6-foot ex-model. Simmons has plans to use her penchant for event planning (anyone who’s watched her reality show “Life in the Fab Lane” or attended one of her Baby Phat fashion shows in the past knows she likes to do things big) and she doesn’t see why the fashion shows and photo shoots need to stop just because she no longer has a clothing line.

“Photo shoots and runway shows — that will probably go on to be the same,” she says. “Just because you’re viral, that doesn’t have to go away. I love to pick the models and be involved in the production, that’s part of my fashion brand and fashion legacy. I was the first person to broadcast [a fashion show] in Times Square.”

From fashion shows in Times Square to shoes under $40, Simmons understands how to bring fashion to the masses.